1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an articulator.
2. Related Art
In the field of dentistry, an articulator has conventionally been used that replicates jaw movements of the human body such as when fabricating an artificial tooth or dental prosthesis. Such an articulator is provided with an upper jaw support portion to which an upper jaw model is fixed, a lower jaw support portion to which a lower jaw model is fixed, and a joint portion that rotatably couples this upper jaw support portion and lower jaw support portion.
Furthermore, in order to enable more precise replication of the jaw movements of the human body, another articulator has also been proposed in which a joint portion is configured to include a projecting portion provided at an upper jaw support portion, a U-shaped groove portion provided at the lower jaw support portion and engaged with the projecting portion, and an elastic body coupled to the projecting portion to pull the projecting portion to the bottom side of the groove portion (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2009-125086).
According to the articulator disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2009-125086, the lower jaw support portion and the upper jaw support portion are rotatably coupled with each other with the projecting portion as a fulcrum. Furthermore, the upper jaw support portion is slidably coupled to the lower jaw support portion by the projecting portion being guided in the groove portion. Moreover, the projecting portion is pulled toward the bottom side of the groove portion by way of an elastic body such as a rubber band or a spring to be retained at a predetermined position. In this way, the articulator disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2009-125086 is configured such that the upper jaw support portion and the lower jaw support portion can be moved vertically and laterally, while the engaged position of the lower jaw support portion and the upper jaw support portion, i.e. an engaged position of the projecting portion with the groove portion is retained at a predetermined position (for example, a centric position).